Welcome God's servant, and we're praying now that he will know help as he ministers in the gospel. Thank you. Well, friends, it's lovely to be back with you again tonight in Port Guillaume. And we really appreciate the invitation to be part of this special and historic week of meetings in your church. And we trust that whoever you are, if you're in the building here or out in your car, or in your home or somebody else's home listening through Facebook or sermon audio or some other means, that you'll be blessed and you'll be very conscious of the presence and nearness of the Savior. How we need the Lord in these days. And what a wonderful thing it is to know our sins are forgiven and that Christ is our Savior. If you have your Bible with you, will you turn with me please to the Gospel of Luke chapter 15, a very familiar portion of God's precious word. contains the story of the prodigal son, but we're going to think for a little while tonight about the parable of the lost sheep. So we'll read from the first verse of Luke 15, and just down to verse number seven. So it's a relatively short reading, and it's a lovely, lovely story, and yet rich in application. And it's a story that the Savior himself told, and we're going to consider it for a few moments. this evening. Luke's Gospel, chapter 15. The word of God records it, then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you having an hundred sheep If he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost until he find it. And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. And we'll end our reading at verse seven, this precious reading of God's holy and inspired word. Let's pray together and unite our hearts Again, just briefly, it's lovely to renew fellowship with you tonight, and we pray that our fellowship will be sweet, and that we'll fellowship with the Savior himself tonight, and that the Lord will draw near and encourage the hearts of his people. And those who are lost or following afar off or have grown cold at heart or wondered, maybe you're listening in tonight and it's been a long time since you've really prayed, I encourage you to pray just now. Let's unite our hearts together. Oh, Father, we thank Thee for the wonderful, wonderful blessing of knowing that it is well with our souls. Lord, many things might not be well with us, physically speaking, or even financially, or perhaps even emotionally, but we thank Thee, Lord, that through the blood of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, it can be wondrously well with our souls. We pray tonight, Lord, for those who are here and those who are outside and others, oh God, who are listening in, via social media, that, Father, thou wilt speak. Lord, we're confident tonight that the very God of heaven knows all about us and knows just where we are in life's journey, knows exactly what we need to hear. And we pray, therefore, Father, that thou wilt speak to us, speak into all of our hearts by the power of thy spirit. And we ask, O God, thou wilt draw to the Savior's feet, precious souls for whom he shed his blood and died for. We pray that the Savior will seek out sinners and find them and lift them and bring them into his family and into his fold. Lord, I pray for the infilling of thy spirit. Break me, melt me, mold me, and fill me. And may the spirit of the living God fall afresh on me. Lord, it's almost too wonderful even just to comprehend the truths of the gospel that the Son of God loved us and gave himself for us. But Lord, write it upon our hearts and be glorified. We humbly ask in the Savior's name and for God's eternal glory. Amen. By the time we reach Luke's gospel, chapter 15, the Savior's earthly ministry is really at its zenith. It's at its height. Large crowds are coming and assembling. to hear the Lord preach. And it's the same here in Luke 15. It says in verse number one, then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And not just those who would acknowledge that they were sinful, but the religious establishment and the religious leaders were there as well. Verse two, and the Pharisees and the scribes murmured. So a large crowd is assembled to hear the Lord preach. And we have virtually every shade of character there, publicans and sinners on one side, and then as the pendulum swings right across, you've got the scribes and the Pharisees and those who are outwardly pure and outwardly religious on the other side, and maybe all sorts of different characters and individuals in between. And in order to reach the hearts of the people, especially those who are outside of the temple system and outside of the synagogues, those who have really no desire to be in places of worship, the publicans and the sinners, in order to reach their hearts and to reach their understanding, the Savior spoke oftentimes by way of parable. Now, the little word parable, it just means to lift one thing and place it alongside something else. And whenever the Lord spoke by way of parable, he would take an earthly application. He would speak about something or someone or maybe even some event that people could identify with that was very real and very, very common to the natural man. And he would speak about those things for a little while. And then he would draw that alongside a spiritual and an eternal application. And whenever he spoke by way of parable, the Bible says that the common people heard him gladly. You see, Jesus Christ our Lord spoke not only to be heard, but also to be understood. And in Luke 15, we have three remarkable parables. And there's a common thread that runs through these parables in Luke chapter 15. They're all different. But they all have a very similar application. Something or someone was lost. And then it was found. And that resulted in great rejoicing. The first parable is the parable of the lost sheep. The second parable is the parable of the lost silver. And then the third parable is the most well-known, the parable of the lost sons, the parable of the prodigal We often call it the parable of the prodigal son, but it should really be called the parable of the prodigal sons because a certain man had two sons. One went into a far country and became outwardly and openly far from the father's house. But the elder brother stayed at home, but was a prodigal in heart. He didn't have the heart of his father for his brother, and he was a prodigal inwardly. And his younger brother was a prodigal outwardly. But nevertheless, that young man went into the far country, came home again, and it resulted in great rejoicing. So is the Lord as before this great assembly. And he tells these three parables. There's something for everyone in these parables that the Lord is giving us the parable of the lost sheep would apply perhaps most of all to the working man, the man of the field, the man who's out there earning a living, seeking to provide for his family. And then the parable of the lost piece of silver maybe applies to the mother at home, confined for most of the day to her dwelling, going about the household chores and duties, providing for her family, and she loses this lost piece of silver. And then the parable of the prodigal son or the parable of the prodigal sons would apply, perhaps most of all, to all of the young people who were assembled that day whenever the Lord was speaking. Maybe young people thinking, faraway fields are green. I want to get away from the things of God. I want to blaze my own trail and live my own life. My, there's something for everyone in the preaching ministry of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, I want to focus tonight upon the first parable that's recorded in verses three through to verse number seven, the parable of the lost sheep. Now, the first thing that I want to say about this great parable, and the first thing that I want you to notice is found in verse number two before the parable actually begins, and it gives the backdrop, perhaps, of why the Lord is teaching us by way of this type of story, and that's the lamentation of the legalists, the lamentation Of the legalists as we have said a large crowd has assembled to listen to the lord preach publicans And sinners people who were outwardly ungodly People who outwardly were living far from god and far from the things of god people who maybe made no profession of faith at all and then alongside them the pharisees And the scribes and you'll notice there that it says in verse 2 the pharisees and the scribes murmured. They murmured. They were complaining. They were criticizing. They were gossiping. They were grumbling. They were murmuring about this man, about the Lord Jesus. They said, this man receiveth sinners. and Edith with them. That was entirely outside of their thinking. That was completely outside of their logic, that one who professed to be a spokesman for God would sit amongst the ungodly and would sit down beside a harlot, or sit down beside a publican, or sit down beside somebody that was demon possessed, or would embrace or touch lepers and show them love and compassion. It was entirely outside of their thinking. And this was a great lament for them. And they hated it, the lamentation of the legalists. They were involved, you see, in the sin of murmuring. Now isn't that a very respectable sin in the 21st century? Maybe inside of our churches, we look at the adulterers. Or we look at the homosexuals. Or we look maybe at the drug dealers or the drug addicts or the drunkards or the child abuser or those who earn their living on the back of others and are openly ungodly and we can so easily point out all of their sins, the sins of the unchurched. But friends, what about sins within the church? During the lockdown, I read a remarkable little book entitled Respectable Sins by a man called Jerry Bridges. Respectable Sins, and the subtitle, Confronting the Sins We Learn to Tolerate. And isn't it true tonight that in the religious crowd, in the church crowd, in the people that profess to know God, isn't it true tonight that there's a lot of sin? And very often, it's the sin of murmuring. Let me remind you tonight that the sin of murmuring is a sin that God especially hates. It was because of the murmurings of the children of Israel and their wilderness journeys that the Lord sent fiery serpents into the camp and many people were bitten and smitten by those serpents and died as a result of it. And it was all because God hated and God was judging the sin of murmuring. And here it is. in Luke chapter 15. And this shows to us that this religious group, they were cynical. They were cynical. They were always seeking and seeing and thinking the worst about the son of God himself. It's quite a remarkable thing. They were cynical. Anybody can be a cynic. You don't have to have the gift of spiritual discernment to be cynical. Being cynical is just really a blossom on the root of pride in our hearts. You see, these people were very proud. And Jesus Christ and the God of heaven says pride is an abomination. These six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him, a proud look. And the Pharisees that day, my, they looked so proud, as they looked down their noses, not just at the publicans, not just at the sinners, but they looked down their nose at Jesus Christ himself. They were cynical. Not only were they cynical, but they were critical, always finding fault. Always looking at others and straining it in that and at the same time swallowing a camel. So easy they found it to look at the little mote or the little speck in a brother's eye and neglecting the beam that was in their own. A cynical and a critical spirit. Anybody can be cynical. Anybody can be critical. But isn't that just evidence of coldness? Was there anybody in Bible times as cold, spiritually speaking, as the crowd that professed to know God in the days of Jesus Christ? They were cold spiritually. And that's evidenced very clearly in that they had absolutely no love or warmth towards Jesus Christ. And because they had no love towards him, they had no love towards the lost. You see, the two things are mutually exclusive. I don't think tonight we can love the lost if we don't love the Lord. And I don't really think tonight we can love the Lord without loving the lost. I wonder tonight, do you love the lost? I wonder tonight are you burdened for publicans and sinners. I wonder tonight do you have compassion in your heart for those that are outside of Christ and who never darken the door of the church. And maybe tonight their sin is so obvious but there's a coldness in your heart and you never really pray for revival. You never really pray for your family. You never really pray for the lost. You would never think of praying for those who are in the depths of sin. You would maybe look at the sodomite and say, Lord, I'm glad that I'm not like they are. But it's only the grace of God. I wonder tonight, do you love the lost, or are you cynical and critical and cold and careless? You see, these were the religious leaders. These are the people that had the law of Moses. These are the people that were entrusted with the great prophecy of Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Daniel, and all the rest of them. And instead of pointing people to the Messiah, instead of pointing people towards God, instead of living by example, they were so careless, and the religious crowd became the stumbling block to the world outside. What awful days they were living in. The bottom line is that they were just carnal. They fancied themselves to be religious. They fancied themselves to be righteous. They fancied themselves to be spiritual. But the reality is they had never been born again at all. And they were just legalistic, proud, arrogant sinners. You know, C.H. Spurgeon said, if your religion does not make you holy, I want you to listen to this tonight. If your religion does not make you holy, it will damn you. It's simply painted pageantry to go to hell in. That was the great C.H. Spurgeon. If your religion tonight does not make you holy, it will damn you. It is but painted pageantry. to go to hell in. And these men, these Pharisees, these scribes, were going to hell in the shroud of religion. And all the while, they were so legalistic the whole time. And with all their shame and all their depravity, they nevertheless declared the most wonderful truth. This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. That's a wonderful truth. Maybe you're listening tonight in this very service, or you're outside somewhere in the darkness of night in your car, or maybe in the comfort of your home, and you're listening via social media, and you wonder, does Jesus Christ care about me? I say tonight, yes, he does. Because this man was concerned about sinners. He sat with them. He talked with them. He put an arm around them. He loved the unlovable. He reached the unreachable. He saved the unsavable. He redeemed the irredeemable. What a change Jesus Christ makes in a person's life. I wonder tonight as he's sitting with you, challenging you tonight, drawing alongside your heart, and speaking to you, meeting you at the point of need, and you realize tonight, I need this savior. Religion will do nothing for you. You need. The lamentation of the legalists. Let's look a little bit more closely at the parable itself. Notice secondly, the straying of the sinner. This lost sheep is a very clear picture of the straying sinner. Isaiah the great prophet said, and you'll know the verse well most of you, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all. There's the gospel. All we like sheep have gone astray. Did you notice there in that great text, and we see it here in word picture in Luke 15, the waywardness of sin? What is sin? Sin is falling short of God's glory. Sin is breaking God's commandment. And sin is also a deviation, a going astray from the way that God would have us to go and the way that God would have us to live. It's the waywardness, the waywardness of sin. Sin takes us away from God. Sin takes us away from truth and away from righteousness. Sin causes us to be separated from God and sin tonight causes us to be lost, the waywardness of sin. Would you be so honest tonight to acknowledge that you have wandered and you have drifted and you have gone astray and your personal sin has taken you outside of the way of truth and the way of righteousness and you're on the broad road tonight that's leading to destruction, the waywardness of sin. But I think as we think about this sheep that has gone astray, we have to mention as well the wickedness of sin. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone, not to God's way, but to our own way. And there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. You know, sin tonight is a wicked thing. We can dress it up, we can gloss it up, we can try to change the name, we can try to take the word sin out of the dictionary, or out of the language of the gospel preacher, but whenever the rubber meets the road, sin is still sin, and it's a very wicked thing. The psalmist said in Psalm 18 and verse number 21, I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly, not wickedly departed from my God. It's a wicked thing, the psalmist said, to depart from God. It's a wicked thing to go astray. It's a wicked thing to ignore God. It's a wicked thing not to want Jesus Christ in your life. It's a wicked thing not to obey the word of God. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. You maybe say tonight, well, I'm not a wicked person. Well, in the eyes of God, we're all wicked because we have all gone our own way rather than God's way. And in doing that, we're saying, God, your way is no good. God, your way is not right for me. God, your way is the wrong way, and I know better than you. Is that not a wicked thing? The waywardness of sin, the wickedness of sin. What about the willfulness of sin? All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned. It's not that somebody else has turned us against our will away from the things of God, but we personally have chosen to go our own way and we have turned everyone to his own way. And that little sheep there, I don't know what entered into its mind. I don't know what way sheep think, but they're probably just like us. They're true to their nature. And that little sheep just, for whatever reason, decided, I'm not going into the fold. I'm going to lag behind. I'm going to hold back. I'm maybe going to go a different way. And it was a willful thing. You know the reason tonight you're not saved? It's not an intellectual problem. It's a spiritual problem. You're not a Christian tonight because you don't want to be a Christian. You're not converted tonight because you don't want to be converted. You're not walking with God because you do not want to walk with God. It's all about the volition. It's all about the will. It's all about the desire. And sin is a willful thing. We choose to sin. Sin as well is a wanton thing. It's a wasteful thing. It never satisfies. It never fulfills the longing of the human heart. And the further a person gets away from God, the further they will go. Do you remember the story of Joseph as a 17-year-old? His father sent him to go after his brothers who had gone to feed their flock. And he went and he found a place called Dothan, where they had gone, and that's where they were supposed to be. It was the place of two wells. And maybe whenever they were in their father's house, they thought, let's go to Dothan. There's two wells there. We'll get more water. We'll get fresher water, lusher pastures for our sheep, and we'll go there. But whenever they got there, the wells were empty. And so they went further and on they went. And it seems the further and the further that they got away from the Father's house, the less that there was for them in this world. And instead of returning, they just went further and further and further away to try to get something to satisfy their longing and to satisfy their lust. And that's just a picture of the sinner. You know the words of Fahim Wales, sin will take you further than you want to go. It'll never satisfy. It's a wanton thing. It leaves us empty. And you know that right well. Then there's the wretchedness of sin. Sin brings shame. Sin brings disgrace. Whenever Adam and Eve stood that afternoon in the Garden of Eden, And they were loitering around a tree of knowledge of good and evil. And the serpent came and began to tempt them and test them. And they saw that it was a tree to be desired, to make one wise. And they thought, if we eat of this tree, we're going to be like God himself. And as soon as they ate off that tree, all of a sudden, all of these emotions that they knew nothing about flooded their soul and came avalanching into their hearts and lives. Guilt, fear, Shame. Confusion. Deceit. Hatred for God. All of these things that they had never known before flooded their souls and they looked at each other and they were ashamed and they were afraid because they were naked. And do we not live in a world tonight that is absolutely riddled with fear? And fear is because of sin. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. But whenever the fear of God departs, inordinate fear creeps in, and the man who fears God fears nothing else. And we live in a world that's full of fear, the wretchedness of sin, and then there's also the woefulness of sin. That sheep was certainly not in a safe place. It was a very dangerous thing to go out on its own at the close of night and the onset of darkness. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. And that poor sheep is left helpless, even if it wants to now it can't find its way back. I wonder tonight are you in the meeting and you say, you know, I can't seem to find my way back to God. Maybe tonight you're a backslider and you've drondered and you've drifted and you've got away from God and somehow you say it's harder, it's harder to get back to the Lord than it was to come to Christ the first time and you feel so helpless because you've wandered and you've drifted and you've got away from God. So helpless, so hopeless, so heartless, so heedless and you think there's no point going on and you just sit down and you feel so, so lost. I wonder does that little sheep paint the picture tonight of your life? Who you are, what you are, how you are, and where you are. Just in one word, lost. Lost. You can be in the church tonight and be lost and not even know it. One of humanity's greatest problems is he's lost But he doesn't know it. If you're like me and you listen to the news headlines over the last number of weeks and months, you probably come to the conclusion that man just doesn't know where he's going. He doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't have the answers. And he's looking to economists, and he's looking to educationalists, and he's looking to scientists, and he's looking to political leaders, and he's looking to Brussels, and the UN, and the EU, and all of these different things, and the World Health Organization. And here we are tonight in a world that is just so filled with confusion, fear, guilt, shame, uncertainty, and we don't know where we're going. We're lost as a world. This is a prodigal world tonight, a lost world. I see in this great parable the lamentation of the legalist, the straying of the sinner, but I also see the mission of the master. If the lost sheep is a very clear picture of the straying sinner, then the loving shepherd is a very clear picture of the seeking savior. Luke 19.10, the son of God said that he came to seek and to save. that which is lost. Isn't that lovely tonight? The son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost, the loving shepherd. You know, the Bible says that Jesus Christ is the good shepherd. He giveth his life for the sheep. The author of the book of the Hebrews said, he is the great shepherd. He looks after his sheep. And then the apostle Peter said, he's the chief shepherd. And he's coming again for the sheep. Now, as we think for a few moments about this loving shepherd, the seeking Savior, would you just think for a moment or two about his character? His wonderful, wonderful character. You know, he's not tonight like the cold, cynical, carnal, critical, cold Pharisees and the legalists. But the scripture says that my loving Savior is holy, Harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, higher than the heavens, full of grace and truth. The scripture says he's the prince of life and he's the prince of peace. The Bible says he's good. The scripture says he's altogether lovely. The Bible says he did no sin, he knew no sin, he's without sin. And in him is no sin. What a wonderful, wonderful character we have tonight in the loving shepherd who's seeking Savior. Not only his character, but his consideration. You see this shepherd here is evidently very considerate of this flock of sheep. He has 100 of them. And it may be that he has names for every single one of them. I'm not sure, but I know tonight that the great shepherd in glory calleth out his sheep, and he goes before them, and he knows them all by name. And he's got a great interest and consideration for his sheep. And this night, as he's counting in the sheep, he's getting up in numbers, 85, 86, And I'm sure he's beginning to look and he's thinking, now something just isn't right. Ninety-four, ninety-five, and he knows now something's wrong. Ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine. And then maybe he brings them all out again and he counts them a second time. He wants to make absolutely sure that he hasn't got it wrong and he's counting the sheep and it becomes very, very evident That one of the sheep isn't there, and as he looks towards the horizon, that little sheep is nowhere to be seen, nowhere to be found. Maybe in the stillness of the night, he listens. He distances himself a little bit from the fold, and he listens, and he listens. He maybe hears the howling of a wolf. He maybe hears the cooing of an owl. He maybe hears the bark of a fox or a wild dog, but he can't hear the sheep. And he's thinking about it now. And that little sheep is so precious to him because he knows it personally. Maybe he even knows exactly what sheep it is. But I tell you tonight, Jesus Christ knows all about you. He knows all about you. And he knows tonight whether you're in the family, whether you're in the flock, whether you're in the fold, or whether you're far, far away into the wilderness and out in the mountains, lost without a shepherd, lost without a savior. He knows where you are spiritually. You see, I see his character. I see his consideration. But more than that, I see his concern. He doesn't just say, well, I've still got 99 healthy sheep. I'll still make a pound or two. I'll still be able to graze my flock. I'll still be able to make a living. No, he's concerned, you see, about this one. Out of 100, he's concerned even about the one. He knows there's wolves out there. There's maybe lions out there, cougars. There's harlings out there as well that would love to steal that sheep. And deer knows how they would treat it. and that sheep out there could be diseased and there's many dangers and you know there's something in his heart he's concerned about this sheep about its well-being about how it is jesus christ is concerned about the individual if the bible teaches us anything friends it teaches us that Just read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You'll read about the Lord ministering to the multitudes and feeding the 5,000, but you'll read in greater detail still about the Lord getting alongside the woman at the well. Whole chapter taken up in John's gospel with the Lord dealing with one individual. John 3 is the same. One individual, Nicodemus, the Lord dealing with him. Great time taken up about the demoniac of the gatherings, the woman taken into adultery. The Lord is concerned about the individual, his concern. And then as well, there's his compassion. I think there was a tear in the heart of this shepherd, this little sheep's precious to him. You know, the scripture says that whenever the Lord beheld the multitudes, he was moved. with compassion because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. And if you could go all the way back into eternity past before there was ever a world, you would see the Son of God looking forward into history and seeing a world that's lost and broken and held captive by the devil. And he was moved. Moved with compassion. Moved to leave the splendor of heaven. Moved to come into this world through the womb of the Virgin Mary. Moved to descend into the lower parts of the earth. Moved to stand up and preach the gospel. Moved to sweat drops of blood in Gethsemane's garden. Moved to go to a cross. Christian tonight, why are we not moved? if we're compassionate at all about the world. Why are we not moved? The Lord was filled with compassion. And I believe that compassion attracted sinners. Even little children came running and sat around his feet and gathered in to listen to him talk and listen to his words. And there was a wonderful warmth, a wonderful appeal, a wonderful attraction about the Savior. It's no wonder that they didn't flock to the synagogues. It's no wonder that they didn't go to the churches of their day, because in the churches they saw hypocrisy, they saw pride, but in Christ they saw character, they saw consideration, they saw concern, they saw compassion, they saw commitment. Verse 4 says he leaves the ninety and nine in the wilderness and goes after that which was lost until he found that he leaves He goes until. Is that not absolute commitment? He leaves. He goes. He searches until. And that's exactly the type of commitment that Jesus Christ had. He left heaven. He came into this world. And he will not finish working in this world until every single soul that he purposes to save has been brought savingly to the feet of Jesus Christ. Absolute commitment that took him to the cross. And then verse number five speaks about his conquest. When he had found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. He goes, he searches until he finds it, and then evidently he lifts it. And he lays it on his shoulders. and he carries it home. And it's all of grace, all of mercy, all of divine love. Friends, this is the gospel tonight. All of mercy, all of love, and all of grace. Years ago, whenever I was growing up as a teenager, there was a restaurant in the town, and they had a special on whenever I was at Tech with my friends, and every morning if you went in, you could get a five-piece fry for 99p, I think it was, or a pound. I used to get five sausages, just filled a hole, I guess. And we used to go in this place, and there was a man in the town who just walked the streets, and he was a kind of a rough-looking individual. And he was a professing believer, and he used to come and stand in open air meetings and go to different places, but inside his coat pocket he always carried a drafts board and a little box with all the little pieces in it. And in that little restaurant that time they had a sign up that if you could beat Billy, if you could beat Billy at a game of drafts you would get a free fry. And so young people would come up and they would play him, and older folk as well, and nobody could beat him. He was just a little bit eccentric, but he knew how to play drafts. Nobody could beat him. Every game ended in defeat for those who took on Billy, the game of drafts. But you know, sometimes and every felt a little bit sorry for somebody, maybe a young person, he would take the drafts board after he had won and spin it around through 180 degrees. And then he would signal to a waitress and he would just point at the drafts board and smile at her and hold up his hands. Now I don't know if that's being dishonest or not. But what happened was that they became the benefactor of his victory. And he took responsibility for their defeat. And the thing you see was turned right around. Now we have all failed miserably in the game of life. but Jesus Christ upon the cross won a great victory for us. And he takes responsibility, full responsibility for my sin, my failure, my defeat, my shame. And in place of that, not only does he take responsibility for my failure and my loss and justifies me and cleanses me and forgives me, but he also more than that, he gives me his victory. He gives me his resurrection life. He gives me his righteousness. And so not only are my sins forgiven, but I have absolute, absolute acceptance before God. And friends, it's all because of grace, because God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, all because of his conquest. all because of his commitment, all because of his compassion, all because of his concern, all because of his consideration, and all because of his sinless character. Now time has gone. We have thought about the lamentation of the legalists. Maybe that has spoken to your heart and you find yourself tonight just to be a cynical, carnal, cold, critical legalist with no life of God in you. Maybe tonight you're like the lost sheep. You're straying. You're wandering. You're drifted. You're helpless. You're hopeless. You're heartless. Maybe you're heedless. But now you're beginning to think about this mission of the master. He left his father's throne above, so free, so infinite as grace, humbled himself in matchless love, and bled for Adam's helpless race. Notice lastly. The gladness in the glory. Verse number seven. I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. Now I am absolutely certain whenever the shepherd found the sheep, the shepherd was glad. It says that in verse number six, when he cometh home, he has laid it already upon his shoulders rejoicing, and he comes home and says to his friends and neighbors, rejoice with me. He's rejoicing. There's gladness in the heart of the shepherd. The scripture says that Jesus Christ shall see if the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. and what joy there is. The Bible says that God, listen to this, the prophet, I think it was Micah said, God shall rejoice over you with singing. He shall rest in his love. Isn't that an amazing thing? Isn't that wonderful? That the very Prince of Glory, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, whenever he saves a sinner, he's glad, he rejoices. The shepherd rejoiced as the shepherd was glad. I'll tell you something else. I'm sure that little sheep was glad. That little lamb perhaps. What comfort it was. In the wilderness. Maybe in a ditch. Maybe ensnared in a hedge of thorns. Maybe cowering in fear as he listens to the wild beasts. The howling wind. rovers and wanderers and nomads and vagabonds looking for sheep just like him. And then he hears a familiar voice and it's the voice of the shepherd. Jesus Christ said, my sheep hear my voice. And I know them and they follow me. And that little sheep begins to make its way towards this voice. And the shepherd's seeking after the sheep and he's speaking. And all of a sudden, there's this warm embrace and a familiar voice. And the sheep's lifted, and it knows I'm safe. I'm safe at last, no more wandering, safe in the arms of Jesus Christ. But not only was the shepherd glad, not only was the sheep glad, but I believe that the whole community, the whole community was glad as well. because it says he calls his friends and neighbors and they enter in and they rejoice. Now it might look very superficial to onlookers and to Gentiles and the ungodly looking and thinking, why would somebody rejoice in that? Because sheep to the Jewish mind were so precious. And you're precious tonight in the sight of Jesus Christ. There'll be gladness in the glory. You know, if you're willing tonight to acknowledge that you're lost, and you're willing to acknowledge that you're far from God, and you're willing to repent of sin and receive Jesus Christ. Those are two critical words in the Bible, repent and receive. As many as received him, to them give ye the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name. And except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. You can't really save one without the other. There needs to be repentance and there needs to be a receiving. There needs to be a turning and there needs to be a trusting. But you know, if you're willing to do that, the scripture says that there will be joy in the presence of angels over one sinner. that repenteth. Now I believe, yes, the angels rejoice, but the text doesn't say that. It says there will be joy in the presence of angels. The spirits of just men, woman, and glory, I'm convinced, know whenever a sinner in this world gets converted, and all glory goes to the great shepherd, the chief shepherd, the good shepherd. And wouldn't it be wonderful tonight if the Savior could rejoice over this meeting? Wouldn't it be a blessing tonight if you could rejoice in this meeting? Wouldn't it be a lovely thing if your family and community could rejoice with you? And there'd be rejoicing in glory, gladness in the glory. Adam, where art thou? Where are you tonight? Be absolutely honest. Let's just be honest before God and honest with ourselves. Where are you? Cold, cynical, legalist? A deep-dive sinner? Either way, lost. But there's a wonderful Savior that can save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him. We're going to pray together, and let's just unite our hearts before the throne of grace, Thank you for your time, thank you for your attention. Mr. Stewart and I will be at the front of the church here as people leave, but if God has spoken, even if you're outside and you want to come in, we'll not be in any hurry away. If there's somebody that's concerned, wants to get right with God, but I think maybe in your heart of hearts, you know the simplicity of God's salvation. Christ died for us, shed his blood, rose again. He's alive, come to him and trust him. as your savior, call upon him, ask him to save you, and receive this wonderful blessing. Heavenly Father, write thy word, O God, upon our hearts. We thank thee, O God, for a wonderful savior, a wonderful redeemer, someone who can do what no other could do, someone who can save us whenever religion falls so far short, someone who loves us, cares for us, Oh God, we pray that there'll be those tonight who will hear the call of the shepherd. Hear his voice and rise and go up and follow him and be found of him. So hear and answer prayer and part us with thy fear and favor and blessing. We ask it all in Jesus' name and for God's everlasting glory. Amen. God bless you all.